Cooler for liquids



ocr. 16, 1934.

A. H; BAER 1,976,872-

COOLER FOR LIQUIDS Enea July` 21, 1933' z sheets-Sheet 2 v Patented Oct. 16,

, UNITED STATES Carbondale Machine lla., a corporation of Pennsylvania PATENT COOLER FOR LIQUIDS v Alvin H. Baer. Carbondale, Pal, assignor to The" i 4oel-ice Company, Carbondale,

Appuautn July 21,1988, Serin No. 881,588 I izclaim. (oise-12e) tion are well known to those skilled in the art.

but it has been diflicult to combine eflicient operation with 'low initial cost. `Various arrange- 15. Vments have been suggested which require numer-f ous welds-in the pipes of the evaporator, or require heating of the'pipesfor `bending them, or

. in which the upward incline or gradient of the parts of the pipes in the evaporator is not uni- A form or is insuflicient for satisfactory operation'.

It is an object of my invention to do away with such' unsatisfactory features by reducing the Tnumber of welds to a minimum while providing vpipe 22 leading tothe surge.` drum 19, this surge an approximately uniform gradient in all parte 25 of the coils for'the easyrelease/of gas formed therein.

Another object of helicalcoils having this gradient but very easily constructed and when nested together will provide a large ratio of surface vcontact between the .mediumto be cooled and the pipes as compared to the total volume of such'uid passing the evap-1 orator. t 1

- A further object of uner invention is to provide coils of such a character as 'to permit baffles to be used in convenient. and :effective manner,

whereby also to obviatethe necessity for crowd- Y ing pipes of peculiar shape close together.

`Referring to thedrawings', whicharemade a 40 part of this application and in which similar reference characters indicate similar parts: Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a preferred form of my invention, partlyin section.

.Y Fig. 2 is a hoizontal section of the same, showing-a part of the freezing tank with which my invention may be used, and, f

Fig. 3 is a partial vertical section. In the drawings, reference character 10 indicates a tank containingfreezing cans 1l whichmay be arranged in any conventional or desirable manner. Adjacent one side of 'the .tank there is a partition 12 separating the body of the tank from Va,Y race or a channel at 13, the partition terminating short of lthe ends of the` tank. 55 so that the channel is connected tothe body isto provide an arrangement of the tank at both ends thereof. An agitator 14 which may be of any suitable or conventional character forces' the brine of the tank' through the race. vIt will be 'obvious that other means may be provided for ,propelling the fluid' to'be 60 .cooled through the channel and this uid may come from any desired source instead of from a ybrine tank. In the present embodiment of the invention the agitator isdriven by a pulley 15.

Within the race there is provided cooling means 65 in the form of an evaporator preferably, but not necessarily, utilizing vaporizable'refrigerant for cooling the liquid passing through the race, Athe levapc'irator" including a lower header 16 for each of a plurality of series of coils hereinafter described and an upper header 1'7 for each of said y series. The lower headers are v'connected at one end`to Aan inlet pipe. 18 to which refrigerantis` supplied from a surge drum 19, a pipe 2 0 serving to augment the supply of refrigerant as'desired, 75

this pipe 20 being provided with a valve 21 for controlling'suchsupply. y v

The upper headers are connected to an outlet drum serving the usual purpose of separating liquid refrigerant from the gasrising from the evaporator so as to prevent the liquid from passing olf through pipe 23 to the compressor. Co'nventional elements shown in connection with the surge drum include a 'supply pipe 24, a float 25 and a pipe l.26 leading to the surge drum. The. evaporating or cooling coils interposed be'- tween the headers 16 and 17 maybereferredfto as unitswhich are arrangedl in rows or series longitudinally andtransversely of the race. A unit comprises two orA more helical or spirally wound pipes, i.` e., aninner pipe 27 and an outer pipe 28. In the present embodiment of the invention theinner pipe 27 is a single wound coil and the outer pipe 28 may comprise a double wound 95 coil, i. e., two single coils 28; 28' wound with a close together and to have approximately the 'same incline or gradient in all parts ofall the pipes of the unit. Obviously morethan two coils'may be included inthe unit and in such case the third layer would be triple wound, etc. .In this way a suitable incline for evacuation of theevaporated gas may be provided in very simple manner, since the bending of helical pipes is a simple operation Aand this form of bent lcoil requires a minimum A of weldswhile permitting the maintenance of a uniform and sufficient jincllne for the evaporated .gas to pass oil. freely.

Preferablyeach unit or coil is provided at its open central portion with a bale 29 which is upper and lower headers and the cylindrical baffles 30 may be 'attached to the floor of the tank.

Bailies of somewhat different form may obviously be used within the scope of my invention but cylindrical baiiles are preferred, they being inexpensive and highly effective for the purpose of maintaining uniform velocity in the flow of liquid between the various turns of the inner and outer helical pipes in each nest, while the cylindrical baliies 30, guiding the liquid between the pipes, also increase the velocity of liquid ow between the coils and keep it uniform.

It will be seen from the foregoing that I have provided-an apparatus in which flooded refrigerant operation is accompanied by a high heat transfer rate while the cost of construction is low `and the operation is Yhighly eflicient.

obviously it is not limited to such use. In the system herein shown, the tank 10 has a partition `31 extending from the partition 12 nearly to thel other side, as usual, for' directing the flow of brine in the tank. I have provided a door 32 in partition 31 adjacent to partition 12,-which door is vertically slidable in guides 33, so that some of the brinermay be short-circuited back to the agitator14 without passing down between the cans.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that many changes may be made in my device all without departing from the spirit of the invention and therefore I do not limit myself to what is shown in the drawings and described in the specification, but only as indicated in the appended claims.

Having thus fully described my said invention, what Ir claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l; In a liquid cooler, a brine tank, a race connected at its ends to said tank, means for causing liquid to circulate from said tank through said race and back to the tank, an evaporator in said race comprising evaporating coils arranged in series along the race, each coil including nested concentric vertically -arranged helical pipes of substantiallysimilar gradient, upper and lower headers connected to said vertical pipes, a baffle extending through the centerr of each coil nest, and means for circulating vaporizable refrigerant through said evaporator.

2. I n a liquid cooler, a. race for liquid to be cooled, cooling coils comprising nested vertical helical pipes of substantially similar-gradient,

'upper and lower headers in said race, coils farranged in rows longitudinally and transversely of said race, said coils comprising helical pipes connected to the respective headers at their ends, a vertical baiiie in each coil, and baiiles .inthe spaces between sets of fourcoils.

5. In a uid cooler, a race for uid to be cooled, upper and lower headers in said race,'a series of coils connected to the respective headers at their ends, said coils each comprising nested vertically arranged helical pipes, and a vertical baille in each coil nest, the space between coils being open whereby liquid may iiow crosswisev past the coils in the racc.

6. In a fluid cooler, a race for fluid to be cooled, upper and lower headers in said race, and a series of coils in said race, each coil comprising vertically arranged nested helical pipes providing helices of two or more diameters, said helices having substantially lsimilar gradient, and being con-l nected to the respective headers at their ends.

'7. In a heat exchange device, a race for a fluid current, upper and lower headers in said race, and coils in said race connected to said headers, said coils including inner and outer-helices with a greater number of spirally wound pipes in an outer helix than in an inner one, whereby substantially the same gradient may be preserved in all parts of said pipes.

8. In a liquid cooler, a race for liquid to be cooled, vertically extending cooling coils each having a plurality of nested, helical pipes with substantially similar upward gradient, said coils being arranged in closely-spaced rows lengthwise of said race, means for causing liquid to flow through said race transversely of said coils, and a baffle placed centrally within each nest of coils.

9. In an ice-making system, a tank, a partition therein providing a race communicating at spaced points with the tank, cooling means in the race, a partition extending from said first-named partition at a point between the ends of the race toward the opposite side of the tank, and a door in the second-named partition adjacent the firstnamed partition, whereby the liquid circulating through the tank and the race may be short-circuited back to the race.

10. In a heat exchange device, a race for a fluid, upper and lower headers in said race, vertically extending helical coils each connected to the respective headers, a baille in each coil of such size as substantially to fill the central space therein, means for circulating a fluid in the race transversely of said coils, and means for circulating through the headers and coils a fluid of different `temperature 'from that inthe race.

11. In a heat exchange device, a coil comprising a plurality of nested helical pipes arranged about' a vertical axis, inlet and outlet headers common to said pipes, a bafe concentric with `said nested pipes, means for circulating a cooling medium through said pipes, and means for causing another fluid of different temperature to flow transversely of the axis of said coil.

, 12. In a heat exchange device, a coil comprising spirally wound pipes allhaving substantially the lie in a common cylindrical plane.

ALVIN H. BAER. 

